Railfan Technology > A Simple Ad-blocking TEch "Fix" for Fans of Railpictures.net

Over many months, I became increasingly frustrated by the long download times of advertising on Railpictures.net.  And many of the ads themselves were offensive--off-the-wall political conspiracy ads, dating opportunities for foreign women, etc.  

Of course you can purchase  a premium version without the ads, but a simple free download banishes all ads and gives you  much faster navigation throughout the site.

Simply go to your browser and download "Adblock," a useful tool that will block most ads not only in Railpictures.net, but in any other website you visit.

Now I breeze through my daily Railpix visit enjoyably, and in much faster time.

Art House
Gettysburg, Pa.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/16 07:45 by aehouse.

Agree, Mozilla seems to be pretty upfront with it's AdBlocker. Amazing how it cleans things up, including RP.

Enjoy it while you can. Many sites are becoming wise to AdBlock Plus and it's bretheren. Some sites have taken the extreme step of blocking ALL content until AdBlock is turned off for that domain. Yahoo! did it recently to a select group of e-mail users. I've had some pages come up completely blank until I "unblocked" it. The tactic seems to be gaining traction in the web development world and will probably become fairly common in the near future.

Yep, Ads = $$.
Just like watching TV with no comercials. I had given up on RP as dysfunctional but now have an idea what it looks like. Should be no problem getting a subscription.

There's also a Flash Player Blocker which helps out on Low BW DSL, as found in less urban areas and Hotels. It keeps the ads from jamming some bizarre Video onto your Data plan while you wait for the content (TrainOrders) to load. It needs to be opted out for the TO RailCams to play though.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/16 10:42 by TCnR.

trainjunkie Wrote:
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> Enjoy it while you can. Many sites are becoming
> wise to AdBlock Plus and it's bretheren. Some
> sites have taken the extreme step of blocking ALL
> content until AdBlock is turned off for that
> domain. Yahoo! did it recently to a select group
> of e-mail users. I've had some pages come up
> completely blank until I "unblocked" it. The
> tactic seems to be gaining traction in the web
> development world and will probably become fairly
> common in the near future.

AdBlock and its brethen are browser extensions and open source. Unfortunately that means both friends and foes alike can study how it works. By being transparent and showing users that AdBlock is an honest product, the ad authors (foe) can also find "countermeasures" and in your example, Yahoo! became malware authors, blackmailing users by denying access to features. Sounds so similar in principle to denial of service attacks, no?

I took a quick look at Railpicture's HTML code and there's a brute-force solution - disable Javascript. If a web site doesn't work without Javascipt, maybe users should reconsider visiting it again. I usually have Javascript enabled, and if ads are inserted discreetly on a web site, I tolerate it, and give the web site a chance to make a little money. However...

There's a big lesson in OP's post, which is to actively manage your browsing history. For example, clear/delete them if you start to get annoying ads! The pop up ads are based on your browsing habits deduced by some "smart" software. For example, I got hotel ads when I visited RailPictures, because I often make hotel reservations online when doing foaming trips outside my area. When I accessed the same site (simultaneously) with another computer, I got ads for mortgages, because the "smart" software couldn't profile me based on my non-existent browsing history.

I have been using AdBlock for several years and rarely see ads on my computer.  I has pleased enough to make a voluntary donation (payment is optional).

JBWX

I use Firefox and saw a recommendation (I believe on TO) about using an add on called NoScript (https://noscript.net/). I've been using it ever since. What I like about it is that you need to "Allow" a website to display content. So if you go to a website like RP, you allow "railpictures.net" and as long as the ads don't come from them directly, you won't see them. I'm amazed at some sites that load content from more than 20 other websites!

Ryan Wilkerson
Fair Oaks, CA

I have a much easier way to avoid the problem: I do not go to railpictures.net.

Problem solved.

I do have a freind who has no Internet, no cell phone, he does have Satellite TV but only watches NASCAR and the local Weather.

He'll probably live to 100.

-------------------------------------------------------
> I have a much easier way to avoid the problem: I
> do not go to railpictures.net.
>
> Problem solved.

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I do have a freind who has no Internet, no cell
> phone, he does have Satellite TV but only watches
> NASCAR and the local Weather.
>
> He'll probably live to 100.
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I have a much easier way to avoid the problem:
> I
> > do not go to railpictures.net.
> >
> > Problem solved.

And he'll probably be happier and richer from not having to pay increasingly expensive monthly fees.

 

I also reccomend this method

jst3751 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have a much easier way to avoid the problem: I
> do not go to railpictures.net.
>
> Problem solved.

jst3751 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have a much easier way to avoid the problem: I
> do not go to railpictures.net.
>
> Problem solved.
I like it!

jst3751 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have a much easier way to avoid the problem: I
> do not go to railpictures.net.
>
> Problem solved.

I heartily endorse this course of action.
KP

Ken Pryor
Flat Rock, IL
http://kpryor.rrpicturearchives.net/